Page 248 - 2020 Defence White Paper

[Chart 6-10] ROK’s Participation in Multinational Forces’ Peace Operations
(As of November 2020, unit: persons)

US Africa Command (1) Bahrain Combined
Maritime Forces
staff officers (4)
US Central
Command IMSC under Cheonghae Unit
Coordination/ liaison officers (2 / Bahrain)
staff officers (3)
Somali waters
Kuwait CJTF-OIR Cheonghae Unit (306)
coordination officers (2)

EU CTF-465
Djibouti CJTF-HOA staff officer
coordination officer (1) (1 / Gulf of Aden)

Cheonghae Unit in Due to the civil war in Somalia, there was a sharp in-
Somali Waters crease in the amount of damages caused by piracy in the
Temporary expansion
of operation areas of waters off the coast of Somalia since 2004. The UN
Cheonhae Unit
Security Council consequently adopted Resolution 1838 with the UN requesting
62)
62) member states to dispatch military vessels and aircraft to the region. The ROK
Cheonghae Unit is
operating around north of government deployed the Cheonghae Unit to the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast
latitude 11° south, west of in March 2009 after obtaining the National Assembly’s consent.
longitude 68° east. The unit
calls upon states to fight As of November 2020, the unit is composed of one destroyer, one helicopter, three
against piracy by deploying
naval vessels and military rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), and 306 troops. While acts of piracy in the Gulf
aircraft. It is allowed to
utilize naval vessels and of Aden have gradually declined, it remains crucial to secure the safety of the area.
military aircraft operating
on the coast of Somalia The Gulf of Aden is a major maritime route for transportation of strategic goods,
as long as it conforms
to the international including crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), and about 30% of the total
law. It also urges the
63)
states to cooperate with maritime cargo volume of the ROK passes through the area. Cheonghae Unit’s
Somalia’s transitional
federal government in the major missions are to convoy domestic and foreign vessels, support safe navigation,
fight against piracy, and
the states and regional and participate in maritime security operations of the Combined Maritime Forces
organizations to protect the
World Food Program (WFP) (CMF) and the EU, and protect ROK citizens in contingencies.
maritime convoys carrying
food aid. In January 2011, the Cheonghae Unit successfully executed the "Operation
Dawn of Gulf of Aden" to rescue a ROK ship and its crew from pirates. In March
63)
Two Chinese destroyers 2011 and August 2014, the unit also effectively carried out the "ROK nationals
and one logistics support
vessel, two Japanese evacuation operation in Libya", where ROK nationals and foreigners were safely
vessels and two patrol
aircraft, and one ROK evacuated from Libya to nearby countries. In April 2015, the first "floating" ROK
vessel (Cheonghae Unit)
are deployed for anti-piracy embassy was opened on ROKS Wang Geon destroyer to safely evacuate six ROK
operations in the Gulf of
Aden. The ROK served as citizens who were caught in Yemen as well as to maintain contact with and protect
the commander of the CTF-
151 in 2019. any ROK citizen who remained in Yemen. This is a stellar example of organic

246 2020 Defense White Paper